The United States expresses its thanks to the Governments of Australia and the Philippines for hosting the 17th Session of the Codex Committee on Food Import and Export Inspection and Certification Systems (CCFICS).

The 17th Session was productive with outcomes that should be helpful to both the United States and its stakeholders.

The Committee:

• Completed work on a Generic Model Official Certificate as an Annex to the Codex Guidelines for the Design, Production, Issuance and Use of Generic Official Certificates (CAC/GL 38-2001).
• Progressed work on the development of Proposed Draft Principles for the Conduct of Foreign On-Site Audits and Inspections.
• Agreed to undertake new work to develop Principles and Guidelines for National Food Control Systems.

The Committee did not, however, approve new work to develop implementing guidance relating to traceability/product tracing. Additionally, it did not approve new work to undertake the development of guidance relating to the intentional contamination of food, indicating that such guidance, with respect to intentional contamination arising from economic adulteration already existed or, with respect to intentional contamination resulting from directed and purposeful addition of a hazard, generally fell outside the mandate of Codex and/or the Terms of Reference for CCFICS.

The 17th Session of CCFICS was attended by 165 participants representing 69 Member countries, one Member organization (the European Community (EC)), and seven international intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations. The United States was represented by: the Delegate, Ms. Mary Stanley, USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service; the Alternate Delegate, Dr. Michael Wehr, FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition; and three government advisors and one non-government advisors.

A complete summary of the results of the 17th Session of CCFICS is given below. The full report of the Session can be found in ALINORM 09/32/30 on the Codex Web site, www.codexalimentarius.net.

MEETING SUMMARY

Proposed Draft Generic Model Certificate as an Annex to the Codex Guidelines for Design, Production, Issuance and Use of Generic Official Certificates (CAC/GL 38-2001, rev. 2008)
At the 16th (2007) Session of CCFICS, the Committee, based on a proposal from the European Community, agreed to undertake work on a model generic official certificate for use in food exporting. The work was to be an Annex to the existing Codex Guidelines for Design, Production, Issuance and Use of Generic Official Certificates (CAC/GL 38-2001, rev. 2008). A physical Working Group was held between sessions to develop a draft document for the Committee's consideration (the United States was part of the Working Group).

The Committee held an extensive discussion of the proposed certificate including both the accompanying explanatory narrative and the model template certificate. The key outcomes of this discussion included the following.

• Removing "sanitary" from the title, broadening the use of the certificate to encompass the dual mandate of Codex (protecting the health of consumers and facilitating fair practices in the food trade).
• Streamlining the narrative, removing language on provisions already covered in the main Guideline document.
• Noting that the certificate could cover multiple product types in a single certificate.
• Adding a general statement noting that if the consignee, port of entry, or transport details change after the certificate has been issued, it is the responsibility of the importer to advise the competent authority of the importing country and that such a change should not result in a request for a replacement certificate to be issued.
• Noting the optional nature of several of the certificate elements, including this aspect in the accompanying narratives for the elements with wording such as "where available", "if required" and "where appropriate".
• Including a new paragraph relating to the type of certificate, that is, "original", "copy" and "replacement".
• Deleting any reference regarding "in transit" including information relating to contact individuals, noting that certifying authorities in exporting countries would not have knowledge of this information.
• Changing "expected border post" to "port of entry" and making this an optional element noting that competent authorities of the exporting country may not have knowledge of this information.
• Regarding country of origin, deleting the word "finished" before "products" to broaden the applicability of the certificate.
• Making the requirement for indicating the means of transport more flexible, providing for a generic description (e.g., air, ship, rail) and making more detailed information such as flight numbers, rail car numbers optional.
• Creating flexibility with respect to seal/container numbers by making this information optional.
• Discussing the use of HS (harmonized system) codes with respect to commodity identification, noting that HS codex are often not sufficiently precise and are difficult to use, and deciding to qualify the use of these codes "as appropriate".
• Revising the spacial layout of the certificate to make it as consistent as possible with the OIE generic export certificate.

The Committee completed work on the certificate and agreed to recommend its adoption by the Codex Alimentarius Commission at Steps 5/8 of the accelerated procedure.

Proposed Draft Principles and Guidelines for the Conduct of Foreign On-Site Audits and Inspections
At its 2007 (16th) Session, the Committee agreed to undertake work on the development of guidance for the conduct of foreign on-site audits and inspections, with work to be led by Australia. A physical Working Group was held between sessions to develop the text considered by the Committee (the United States was part of the Working Group).

Because of limited time, the Committee's discussion focused primarily on the scope of the document and on an initial consideration of the Principles presented in the draft text. No discussion occurred on the detailed guidance.

The Committee agreed that the document would replace the existing annex on audits contained in the Codex Guidelines for the Design, Operation, Assessment and Accreditation of Food Import and Export Inspection and Certification Systems (CAC/GL 26-1997), expanding on Section 9 of this document.

A lengthy discussion was held on the scope of the document. Many delegates indicated that the document should be limited solely to system audits and inspections with inspections only noted as one component of a system audit. Other countries, including the United States, noted that some competent authorities carry out separately both system audits and inspections to assess and verify the competency of an exporting country's food control system or component parts thereof. The committee developed a compromise text to resolve the different views, as follows.

"In the context of a relationship between two countries, an importing country may use tools for examination (i.e., audits and inspections), to assess an exporting country's official inspection and certification systems. These activities should concentrate primarily on the effectiveness of the official systems. This annex is not intended to mandate these activities but to provide guidance in the case that they are used.

"While there are a number of tools available for the assessment of an exporting country's official inspection and certification systems, this annex is focused on the use of audits and inspections for this purpose. The preferable tool is the use of audits. However, in some instances, inspections may be used and guidance is provided for these instances."

The Committee also clarified in the objective statement that the "annex applies equally to assessments carried out on-site or by documentary review."

The Principles were reviewed, noting among others, the following points.

• Principle (a) was adjusted to include the notion that audits were linked to products or groups of products.
• Principle (b) was amended to indicate that audits should be functionally independent, evidence-based and conducted in a cooperative, ethical and professional manner including respecting confidentiality, where appropriate.
• Principle (c) was amended to avoid the term "dispute resolution" to not confuse the resolving of concerns associated with an audit with the WTO dispute resolution process.

Additionally, under Principle (i) it was agreed to discuss the area of audit publication, specifically a proposal that the audit report may be published when agreed to by the parties.

The Committee returned the document to Step 2 for further redrafting and established a physical Working Group for this purpose. The Working Group will be chaired by Australia and hosted by the United States.

Discussion Paper on the Need to Develop Principles and Guidelines for National Food Control Systems
The Committee considered a revised Discussion Paper prepared by Australia proposing that CCFICS undertake new work to develop Principles and Guidelines for National Food Control Systems.

The Committee expressed general support for undertaking the work and that CCFICS was the appropriate Codex committee to do the work.

Several countries noted the importance of this type of guidance to countries whose food control systems were still in the early stages of development noting that such guidance would assist both with foods produced for domestic consumption and foods destined for export.

The Committee revised and approved a Project Document for the work with a recommendation to the Codex Alimentarius Commission to approve the new work. The Committee also established a physical Working Group to develop an initial text with the Working Group to be chaired by Australia and hosted by the United States.

Discussion Paper on the Development of Guidelines for Traceability/Product Tracing In the Context of Food Import and Export Inspection and Certification Systems
At the 2006 Session of CCFICS, following completion by CCFICIS on Principles for Traceability/Product Tracing as a Tool within a Food Inspection and Certification System, Norway suggested that new work be undertaken on developing implementing guidance for traceability/product tracing (T/PT). The Committee agreed to have Norway prepare a Discussion Paper on the subject. The Paper was considered at the 2007 Session of CCFICS and Norway was asked to revise the Paper to provide more specific information on the rationale for, and scope of, the guidance. Norway developed and circulated a questionnaire, requesting information from countries on the nature of T/PT information maintained by countries, to identify gaps in existing implementing guidance and to seek information on the specific work Codex might undertake in this area. The results of the questionnaire formed the basis for a revised Discussion Paper presented at this Session of CCFICS.

The Discussion Paper noted that the results of the questionnaire did not clearly identify gaps and a specific need for implementing guidance for T/PT. Additionally, the Paper noted that many countries that had, as yet, not implemented T/PT systems did not respond with information as to what specific Codex guidance was helpful or needed.

The Discussion Paper therefore proposed that work on the topic be suspended until further discussion on the need for T/PT guidance could be held at the FAO/WHO Regional Coordinating Committees and that countries could identify appropriate work for CCFICS on this subject. The Committee endorsed this approach and the issue was removed from the CCFICS Agenda. No further discussion is expected on T/PT until at least 2011 following discussion at the next sessions of the various FAO/WHO Regional Coordinating Committees.

Discussion Paper on the Development of Guidance on the Prevention of Intentional Contamination of Food
The United States, at the 2007 Session of CCFICS, noted that it may be useful for CCFICS to undertake new work on the prevention of intentional contamination of food. The U.S. noted that the potential for harm to human health and trade arising from intentional contamination of food was significant and that guidance for intentional contamination of food differed from existing guidance on the unintentional contamination of food. The Committee agreed to have the United States prepare a Discussion Paper on the subject but indicated that the Paper should clearly indicate the nature of the work, the gaps existing in current Codex guidance including a review of existing CCFICS texts, and whether the work fell within mandate of Codex and within the Terms of Reference of CCFICS.

The United States prepared a Discussion Paper addressing the Committee's requests and noting that the scope of the work would include both intentional contamination arising from economic adulteration in which harm is caused and intentional contamination arising from the direct and purposeful addition of a hazard to a food.

The Committee acknowledged that intentional contamination of food was an important issued but questioned whether CCFICS guidance was needed. Several delegations noted that guidance relating to the control of intentional contamination arising from economic adulteration already generally existed. Further, some delegations noted that they believe that purposeful intentional contamination of food was outside the mandate of Codex as it was the result of criminal behavior.

The Committee agreed that it would not recommend new work in this area but noted that some aspects of the control of intentional contamination could be considered in the context of work to be undertaken on guidance for national food control programs.

Other Matters
As part of a general review of Codex work management processes including the criteria for undertaking new work, the Codex Alimentarius Commission requested several committees to assess whether specific criteria, in addition to those given in the Codex Procedural Manual, were needed. CCFICS, prior to the specific review of this area by the CAC, had briefly considered this subject noting that criteria specified in the Procedural Manual were adequate for its' purposes. Further, that no additional criteria relating to priority setting were needed as CCFICS generally had only a few work items on its agenda at any one time.

The Committee reconsidered this area based on the CAC's request. As before, the Committee indicated that the criteria for new work specified in the Procedural Manual were sufficient including the general criterion and the criteria applicable to general subject committees, and further, that no additional criteria relating to setting work priorities were needed.

Next Session of CCFICS
The 18th session of CCFICS is tentatively scheduled for Nov 9-13, 2009 at a location to be determined.